Tick Tock
by Nora-1973
Summary: EC. Challenge Response/Valentine's Day. Angsty! You have been warned.


Title: Tick Tock

Pairing: E/C

Point of View: Calleigh

Challenge Response: Talk CSI, Valentine's Day

* * *

"It's snowing in Seattle," the weatherman reported once the last notes of _True Love_ had faded into the background. The performed excitement of the radio host was more than the blond CSI could bear; she had just enough time to push _mute_ before the traffic lights changed to green and she could accelerate.

"_So, Eric; hot date tonight?" Ryan had bored for information. __The Cuban tried to remain nonchalant, but, eventually, a big grin spread, and he chuckled challengingly: "Hotter than you'll ever have, kiddy." The wolf whistle that followed the statement called Calleigh back into motion._

Reason told her to stop torturing herself, but Calleigh's heart still processed the information she had gathered today. She cursed herself for being inattentive; for allowing a woman to take her place without even standing up for a battle. The thousand reasons that had kept her from jumping Eric in the last couple of months seemed gratuitous now. – And she had always prided herself for allowing reason to prevail!

"_Calleigh?" "Yeah; what's up?" "Everything alright?" __"Sure; sorry." She immediately began to sputter data about the crime scene H was enquiring about, though her mind was still caught up by the present that lay wrapped on Delko's desk. It was small, carefully wrapped and, ironically, laughed in her face. _

The moment Natalia had thrown her a worried glance, she had known that she was displaying too much of what she thought. Hence, she had refused to look Eric straight in the eye for the rest of the day; she had tried to be jovial; she had tried to appear unchanged, but the minute she knew of the other woman's existence her whole demeanour had become artificial.

_Eric and she had been __in the storage room of the MDPD laboratory for half an hour. They were looking through numerous cold cases as the one they were searching for seemed to have been misplaced. Calleigh had refused to talk much; she just had not known what to say without revealing that she was jealous. Eric had become more and more frustrated, and when she was at the point of angling for a box which was totally inaccessible to her, rather than asking him to give her a hand like she had done numerous times before, he had snapped._

She arrived at her destination, a small, lit building block. She parked in the shadows where he was unlikely to discover her. Tacking a glance in her mirror, she could see the lines under her eyes and the hickey that had formed on her neck. Tucking a hair strand behind her ear, she traced the violet mark's outlines and shivered at the memories it conjured up. She should be running as far as her feet could take her, but instead she had sought the confrontation.

"_What the hell's going on?"__ Eric had crossed the room and had removed the box further away from her grasp. "What?" She twirled around on the makeshift stool she had been using, and almost toppled over. He had reached out and consequently prevented her from landing gracelessly on the floor, but did not release her afterwards. Even with a stool, she was not at eye level with Eric and, consequently, her stare was ineffective._

If she were being honest with herself, she knew she was just here to see if he went through with his date. She had not planned for everything to turn out like it did; hell, when she had stood up in the morning it was a cheerful day like every other. Now, it seemed like every little fantasy she had allowed herself to indulge in where it concerned Eric was just that: a fantasy.

_Calleigh's eyes soften when she took in his confused and slightly hurt expression. "Come on, Cal. It's me." She knew he would use that against her one day; she knew it. She bit her lip to prevent herself from giving in __as his chocolate brown eyes penetrated her from above. "I'm … I." "Cal?" He pressured. "Damn it!" And the curse was followed by the quick action of her arms which wiped at her, suddenly watery, eyes. "Cal?" "Just stop saying my name!"_

The present she had bought Eric still lay untouched on the backseat; she had hid it in her locker and fetched it back again undetected. Silently, she thanked God for not giving it to him in the morning; there would have been a lot of awkward awkwardness. Calleigh reached back to retrieve it just as the front door opened and a beautiful woman stepped outside leaning heavily on Eric's arm.

_Hell hath no fury …__ As her senses registered what she had done, it was too late. She was kissing Eric with an abandonment she had not known she possessed. Eric softly tucked at her arms, but she would not be stopped. She softly let her fingers brush over his chest and felt him shiver. The moment he gave in was the moment she pulled at his lower lip. His mouth softly descended upon hers. _

The couple had long left. Calleigh stepped outside and sucked in air as if suffocating. She grabbed her cell phone, but put it back again. Her fist hit the hood of her car and she turned her face toward the sky to keep herself in check. It was over; he had moved on. And the fact of which hurt more than any heartache she had ever gone through.

_How they had landed on the table remained a fuzzy theory, but Calleigh would always remember when he stopped giving in. She had reached out and__ traced the edges of his belt, when his hands shot forward. "Cal, what's this all about?" Good question, she thought; it's about whether you still want me. "I don't know." Her lips burned. Eric blinked trice and left, slamming the door so hard that she feared it wouldn't open again._

She pulled herself together; grabbed the present from the backseat; removed the content – two tickets to Barbuda – and wrote on them: Happy Valentine's Day! She crossed the street, pushed them inside his mailbox, and went back to her car. This was the moment she had to let go. Taking a deep breath she opened the car door and refused to look back.


End file.
